390: Reading Kits, Panini Coca-Cola Championship Official Sticker Collection 2009 and R9: Fulham, Topps Match Attax Trading Card Game, Barclays Premier League 2010/11 Collector Binder

Emlyn Shepherdson-Jones explores the class divide and gentrification in a wide-ranging post which may also serve as a useful guide on where’s best to pick up a Steak Bake and/or some potato and rosemary sourdough. Clearly West Ham United fans have been crying out for both judging by the new addition at the nearby Westfield shopping centre. Over to Emlyn.

Football social media has recently hit upon a trend of ranking league grounds by how close they are to certain amenities, with notable examples being McDonald’s, Greggs and Wetherspoons. These have been useful to spark debate, including whether you can get from St James' Park in Exeter to the Chevalier Inn in eight minutes (absolutely not), and why they haven't done one for Domino's, given that Leyton Orient have a dugout serving halftime pizzas from the brand.

This naturally ended up in a discussion in our WhatsApp group about other potential measures of ground location value, eventually settling on who was likely to win the middle-class competition of being closest to a Gail's or a Pret. I was hopeful that Reading would do reasonably on this measure, but unfortunately Fulham were our best shout for this measure, with a Gail's just up the road from Craven Cottage.

Matches between Reading and Fulham have, in the past, been jokingly referred to as 'the Waitrose derby' owing to the perceived makeup of the fan groups, and Reading capitalised on this in the late 2000s, securing a kit sponsorship deal with the purveyor of 'Essentials' Artichoke Hearts and Flageolet Beans. We've talked before about the difficulties Graeme Le Saux found being a 'posh' footballer, including homophobic abuse doled out for the severe crime of reading a broadsheet newspaper. A few other names were raised in the WhatsApp group, prompting an article, although my initial research of Googling 'Posh Footballers' hit a brief snag when I was presented only with the squad list for Peterborough United. A quick coffee and some amended search terms later, I was able to produce the following list:

Les Ferdinand, in the later stages of his career, decided that the roads or rail simply weren't befitting a player of his pedigree, and decided to commute to Bolton and Reading via helicopter.

In 1879, after a number of failed attempts, the team of former Berkshire public schoolboys, Old Etonians F.C. were able to secure their first FA Cup, repeating the feat in 1882. Both times saw them clad in their jerseys based on the Eton Blue colour scheme

Gianluca Vialli's father was a self-made millionaire, and as a result, the Chelsea legend grew up in a 60-room castle in Cremona. Fellow Italian Andrea Pirlo also enjoyed a privileged upbringing, with his father owning a successful steel company.

Other players to have come from significant family money include Oliver Bierhoff, son of a German energy magnate, and the former captain of the Libyan national side, Al-Saadi Gaddafi. Gaddafi benefitted not only from the proceeds of the Libyan oil trade, but also the fact that his father Muammar was leader of the country during his career.

Frank Lampard Jr also benefited from his father's career earnings by being enrolled into the private Brentwood School, leaving with eleven GCSEs, including an A* in Latin. He was also reputed to have a higher IQ than former Countdown matrician Carol Vorderman.

Other private school attendees include Patrick Bamford, Will Hughes, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who added a double-barrelled name into the mix for good measure. Phil Foden was also an attendee of St Bede's College, sponsored by Manchester City, which based on his post-match interview style raised the suggestion by Manny that the school in question may have consequently become the first to be relegated from the Times Good School Guide.

And to bring the post full circle, former Reading centre back Alex Pearce attended the Oratory School in Oxfordshire – current fees vary between £8,000 and £18,000 per term.

Classism exists throughout modern life, even with various ructions in both directions caused by changes in home ownership patterns, pay inequality, technology and university attendance, and football is still viewed primarily as a working class sport. Although nearly thirty years removed from Graeme Le Saux's abuse, there can still be an element of mockery against fans from different backgrounds and the inauthentic prawn sandwich brigade. It's tough to say how this will change over the coming years, with the cost of living crisis and potential changes in working patterns brought in by AI and automation. The main takeaway, though, is that if your main priority is grabbing yourself some olive sourdough post-match, Craven Cottage is definitely the place to go.